Well, yes, and that's the same state of affairs - in SR4, it was generally a choice between being shunned (registered, such as SINner TM's), hunted (unregistered), or shadowrunning. But if someone's technomancy is registered to their SIN, and their sprite hits OS40... What does GOD do? Why do they care?

How do mancers deal with throwback devices? They don't have a datajack to plug in their brains. I guess they might be able to daisy chain their way in with a commlink. That should work, right?

Yeah, same trick (or, alternatively, a wireless adapter) was needed in SR4 if you didn't have the Skinlink echo.

If you're messing around in the Matrix where you shouldn't be, no matter who you are, you're gonna get GOD coming down on you. Doesn't matter if you're hacking commlinks or fiddling with sprites, if GOD has decided a particular action is not allowed, that's the end of it.

Being registered as a technomancer doesn't necessarily give you free reign to practice your technomancy. A registered sex offender doesn't have free reign to molest people, after all. Or to use a less crass example, you can be licensed to own and carry a firearm, but using it for anything but target practice on private property still gets you in trouble with the police. I imagine that registering as a Technomancer is simply complying with the government's wishes to be able to track and control you, and that you do not get any privileges or allowances in return - you simply don't get thrown in prison.

~Umi

Right, but I'm referring to using sprites for strictly legitimate and legal actions. No messing around in areas where you shouldn't be or anything of the sort.

Deck envy.

Why would you need to use a sprite for legitimate and legal actions? Why would GOD or the corps want to allow you to?

They can easily say "Use a commlink, drek for brains!" and then you have to, and that means you give them nuyen for their tech, AND you don't get to muck around with those dangerous powers of yours. It's win-win-win for the corps.

~Umi

You'd need it for the same thing a decker could use an agent for non attack or sleaze action. Data gathering for example. And I'm guessing that a sprite doing legitimate things appears to GOD as an agent doing legal things in the same way that a deck doing legal things appear to be a commlink.

Plenty of reasons (especially with Data Sprites, and when the splat comes out Sleuth Sprites), but that's not an answer to the question. Also, you wouldn't have to use a commlink anyways. Your OS doesn't start for using your abilities to run a data search, for example.

That's how it should be, but sprites begin accumulating OS from the moment they're compiled - I find that this doesn't make very much sense.

The problem is Technomancy itself. It's strange and unknown, and potentially really dangerous. The corps want to study it, and anyone they can't study they want to control or limit. So I ask you, what motivation do they have to allow Technomancers outside their influence to practice Technomancy of any kind, even on a "minor" level?

Anything you can do with Technomancy that you could instead do with technology which the corps could be selling to you is something the corps have absolutely zero reason to allow you to do with Technomancy. Why should you be allowed to use these quasi-mystical powers that GOD has trouble controlling? Do the corps at your gametable make a habit of being generous and allowing people to do things just because they want to do them?

"You'd like to be able to own and carry Assault Cannons, you say? But those are dangerous, ya know! What's that? You want us to allow them so long as you only load them with non-lethal rounds? Hrm, I dunno... why can't you just carry around a taser? Those are already legal, and already fulfill the role you claim you want your Assault Cannon to fill, and you can't sneakily load a taser with lethal assault cannon rounds behind our backs and use it level a police station. Plus, we already have a bunch of tasers for sale! They're on discount now through next Tuesday, even! No? You really want that Assault Cannon? You're absolutely sure? I can't change your mind? Well, shucks, you know I could never say no to you! Here ya go, a freshly printed Heavy Weapons license! Just remember to only use those non-lethal rounds now!"

~Umi

TL;DR:
The corps want to force you to spend your nuyen on buying what they're selling to do the legitimate things you want to do, even if you have no actual need for what they're selling in order to accomplish this, and they'll (ab)use the law to punish you if you DON'T pay them and suckle on the corporate teet?

So... business as usual on all fronts, then? Good? Good, next order of business, getting our sanctioned mages to mold diamond and gold into toilet paper for the executive lounge because we're running low again...

I asked what would happen once they traced you if a sprite's OS hit 40 and it had conducted absolutely no illegal actions. I'm still waiting for an answer to that question. Because, Crack Sprites aside, every single sprite has legal reasons for their use - even Fault Sprites could legitimately be used in self-defense, since Matrix damage is real damage to a technomancer. Oh, and let's not forget that GOD doesn't get to write the laws regarding technomancers in the various jurisdictions - remember that convergence entails notifying local law enforcement of your location.

I suppose the corps could argue that you are basically infringing on their intellectual property by creating these matrix forms that replicate the function of licensed software. I'm grasping at straws, but it seems like a balance mechanism to prevent technomancers from creating 'hordes' of throwaway agents.

For a corp-sponsored 'mancer on his own corp's grid, it would be "Yo, Manny, need any help on that project? I've got some guys coming on shift and soon that I could spot you." If he's not... why would he get any special privileges? That's dangerous code you're talking about there! Burn it!

That's still not an answer to the question. Assume the technomancer's abilities are registered to his national SIN. What happens when the sprite gets traced?

GOD doesn't do anything to you if you stay in a host, not until you leave, and only if you don't just jack out. What this means is that the Corps could have Technomancers working as data clerks and sorting data with sprites, and carefully watched by network spider overseers. It sounds like "Todays Solutions to Today's Problems."

That WAS the answer. If he's not a Corp Technomancer that is operating exclusively on his own corp's systems, or a Government Technomancer operating exclusively on his own government's individual devices, then he's a Technomancer performing unauthorized and freaky drek on the grid, which is criminal as per the laws that the corps paid quite well to ensure were enacted. Expect Convergence, you sick, mutant freak! No, not you SuRGErs, you're just mutant freaks, and a few of you have the cold.

And it says this where? Where is it said that, say, the UCAS has made it illegal to compile a sprite?

You're asking for specifics when you already know the generalities.

You know that unauthorized Technomancers have bounties placed on their heads. Where? Not everywhere, no, but many places. Is the UCAS or the Seattle Metroplex one of them? We don't have anything spelling out which jurisdictions have the bounties and which don't, so no one can answer you except the devs. What should you do in the meantime? Operate under the assumptions of least liberal allowances, as suggested by the general context of the topic. Id est, if you're a SINner technomancer, assume that you're either working for a Corporation in a Corporate mandated way, or you're not authorized and are therefor in trouble.

Compare to other types of SINners with simular restrictions. If Joe Security Guard works the night shift at his local Renraku Offices, he is empowered to exercise the use of deadly force in certain events. If a team of Shadowrunners bust in, he has permission to open fire (after calling for backup). The moment he's off the clock, though, he can't go walking through Seattle firing off his Predator V at random without getting the cops called on his stupid ass. He can own the gun, he can carry the gun, he can even pet it lovingly and call it Shnookums in the privacy of his own home, but the moment he uses it in a way that is not approved, he's deep in the drek. Do we know every single approved usage, and every single non-approved one? No, certainly not. But we can make some pretty general assumptions about things.

Same with Technomancy. If you're a corporate 'mancer doing your corporate job, your 'mancy doesn't bother anyone because it has been approved for that usage. If you're a corporate 'mancer compiling sprites in a local coffee shop, that's almost certainly not an authorized use and GOD will be angry about it.

~Umi

I think you're putting too much value in UCAS law. The polticians that write those laws make our own politicians look like saints and survive on a steady stream of Megacorp nuyen. The same goes for the justice system that enforces them.

It would seem they wrote the fluff to support this view of Technomancers.

"GOD can’t track technomancers as cheaply as
they can track deckers, and so they give little leeway or
mercy in cases where a technomancer is involved." (pg. 249)

When a sprite’s code is analyzed, it looks
like a kludgy mish-mash of code snippets and junk data
that shouldn’t work but does.
Sprites bend the rules of the Matrix just by existing. The Matrix isn’t really sure what to do with a sprite.
When a sprite is compiled, its own Overwatch Score
starts, even though it hasn’t had a chance to do anything illegal (it isn’t fair to the little guys, but life ain’t fair,
chummer (pg. 254)


"A sprite’s owner is the technomancer that compiled
it, and when you compile a sprite, it has your Resonance
signature. If its physical location is tracked, the tracker
gets your physical location instead; this also happens
when a demiGOD converges on the hapless little sprit" (Pg. 254)

Probaly a balance issue. Because a Decker's Agent shares his condition monitor.

I'm not denying that such a possibility exists. However, if it's the case that such laws exist in the default setting of the game it must be made explicitly clear.

And from a design standpoint, I'd consider it a very bad move. Also, if we're gonna get into Condition Monitors... Why must they once again write the Matrix rules without remembering that Matrix damage is real damage to technomancers?

I would agree that it'd be nice to know this law. (Just as I'd love to know more about how GOD, the grids, and G-Men function) But you can probaly assume that such a law is NOT on the books. It's the enforcement side I mentioned. The Megas can do what they want, with a few exceptions. Some middle manager can murder your grandma for kicks and get away with it. Bad PR is one of the few limitations on corp actions. And it seems right now TMs have bad PR. (Especially ironic with the Azzies having good PR) Actually, the AI Pulsar won his battle against the Megas using PR.

In regards to technomancers, PR, and megas, I'm gonna point you to the PR evisceration they suffered in Emergence.

In story, bet the common SINner still believes technomancers can hack the metahuman brain.